Implementation of Peer Teaching Among Medical Students

The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of peer teaching in improving communication skill at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). This longitudinal study was conducted among second year medical students as the subjects and peer teaching were carried out by year 4 medical students. The students were divided into 2 groups, group 1 had 3 PBL sessions facilitated by year 4 medical students at specific interval prior to their scheduled PBL, while group 2 did not received the peer teaching session and served as a control group. At the end of each PBL, the students were evaluated by the facilitators on their participation and communication skill. The student's English proficiency was based on Malaysian University English Test (MUET) results. The results showed that communication skills of group 1 were better than control group in 2 out of 3 modules. The performances in group 1 were not significantly different from the whole class performance. There was no significant association (p=0.128) between MUET result and communication skills. We conclude that peer teaching is a potential learning strategy to improve communication skills among medical students.